Reversible changeable exhibitor



April 5, 193-8.

J. HUTCHINSON REVERSIBLE CHANGEABLE EXHIBITOR ggginal Filed Dec. 15,1932 7 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR.

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April 5, 1938. J. HUTCHINSON REVERSIBLE CHANGEABLE EXHIBITOR Original Filed Dec. 15, 1932 7 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VEN TOR.

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April J. HUTCHINSON REVERSIBLE CHANGEABLE EXHIBITOR Original Filed Dec. 15, 1952 -7 Sheets-Sheet 3 fr! 744m,

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April 5, 1938.

J. HUTCHINSON REVERSIBLE CHANGEABLE EXHIBITOR Original Filed Dec. 15, 1932 7 Sheets-Shed 5 u u n" H m g mm M06 0 IDOQLJUDI- l-lllll .JIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII 0 HJllIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIiiI IEIIIII wil INVENTOR W 1417 m,

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April 5, 1938. J. HUTCHINSON REVERSIBLE CHANGEABLE EXHIBITOR 7 SheetS -Sheet 6 Original Filed Dec. 15, 1952 IN V EN TOR.

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April 5, 193-8. J. HEJTCHINSON REVERSIBLE CHANGEABLE EXHIBITOR Original Filed Dec. 15, 1932 7 Sheets-Sheet 7 INVENTOR $4 7 011 m, W 1 M,

* ATTORNEYS.

Patented Apr. 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Application December 15, 1932, Serial No. 647,477 Renewed August 31, 1937 6 Claims.

This invention relates to electrically operated changeable exhibitors for announcing information, and more particularly to devices of the general type disclosed in my co-pending applica- 5 tion Serial No. 649,623, filed December 30, 1932, as a division of prior application Serial No. 590,484, filed February 2, 193 2.

While in said prior application I have shown and described a display unit in which the movable display element, carrying a series of characters, is driven continuously by a rotary motor, I propose, in the present case, to operate the display element step-by-step, one character at a time, by means of an improved pawl and ratchet device.

Also, while in said prior application, there is required a number of control wires equal to the number of characters to be displayed, I am enabled, by the present invention, to display any desired number of characters by means of but two control wires.

Furthermore, while in said prior application, I have shown mechanism by which the display element is driven always in the same direction 95 until the end of the series of characters is reached, and is then automatically reversed, I have now devised means by which the direction in which the display element is driven can be selected at will from the control station.

30 With the above improvements in mind, the present invention comprises a display element, pawl and ratchet mechanism for driving it, a reversible remote control device for operating said pawl and ratchet mechanism, and means 35 governed by the direction of movement of said remote control device for causing said pawl and ratchet mechanism to drive said display element in one direction or the other, as desired.

In order that the invention may be readily 40 understood, reference is had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, and in Which:-

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of my improved display mechanism or changeable exhibitor, parts 45 being in section;

Fig. 2 is a plan view thereof;

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section substantially on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a front elevation of the same;

50 Fig. 5 is a transverse section substantially on the line 55 of Fig. 1, looking in the direction of the arrows;

Fig. 6 is a transverse section on the line 6-6 of Fig. 1, looking in the direction of the arrows;

55 Fig. '7 is an elementary diagram of circuit;

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary plan view of a series of control units or remote control devices which I employ for operating a similar series of display mechanisms;

Fig. 9 is an end elevation of the same, parts 5 being in section; r

Fig. 10 is a front elevation of the series of remote control devices shown in Fig. 8, Fig. 10, however, illustrating a group of two such series;

Fig. 11 is a transverse section substantially on the line Il-l| of Fig. 10, looking in the direction of the arrows; and

Fig. 12 is a complete diagram showing four control units operatively connected to four changeable exhibitors or display units. .15

Referring to the drawings in detail, and more particularly first to Figures 1 to 6 thereof, my improved display mechanism comprises a frame having top and bottom plates l and 2 braced by spacing bolts 3, a back plate 4 and a front plate I 5. This front plate 5 is provided with a display opening or window 6 behind which may be disposed a glass or other transparent panel 1, which may be plain or of any desired color.

Journaled between the top and bottom plates l and 2 are a pair of reels 8 and 9, to the shafts of which are secured gears I0 and H interconnected by means of a gear I2 secured to a shaft 13 also journaled in the top and bottom plates.

Secured to the reels 8 and 9 are the ends of a web or band l5 of suitable flexible and preferably opaque material, this web being adapted to be wound on and unwound from the reels. At each side of the window opening 6 is a guide roller 16, and the web 15, in traveling from one of the reels to the other, passes around these guide rollers in close proximity to the display opening. This web I5 constitutes the display element and carries a series of individual characters, such as letters or numerals which are preferably formed by translucent portions of the otherwise opaque web. Each of these characters is of such size as to substantially fill the display opening 6, as illustrated, for example, by the numeral 3, shown in Fig. 4. It will be understood that one of the reels, such as 9, is connected with its shaft through a spiral or other spring l4 in order to maintain the tension on the web.

Behind the portion of the web between the guide rollers l6, and back of the side opening 6 5 is a suitable lamp I! behind which again is disposed a reflector I8. All of the parts so far described are substantially the same as those illustrated and described in my prior co-pending application, above identified.

Mounted upon the top plate I near each end thereof are solenoids l9 and 20, between and into which extends a shaft 2| constituting the plunger of the solenoids, this shaft being supported in bearings 2| To the shaft 2| are rigidly secured a pair of spaced bevel pinions 22 and 23 each of which is adapted to mesh with a bevel gear 24 secured to the upper end of the shaft I3. It will be understood that the pinions 22 and 23 are spaced apart a distance slightly greater than the diameter of the gear 24, so that when one of these pinions is in engagement with the gear 24, the other is out of engagement therewith. Owing to the fact that the pinions 22 and 23 engage the gear 24 at opposite points thereof, the arrangement constitutes a reversing gear. Assuming the shaft 2| to turn always in the same direction, it will be obvious that the gear 24, and with it the reels 8 and 9, are driven in one direction or the other in accordance with which of the pinions 22 or 23 is in engagement. It will be further obvious that the solenoid |9 when energized will shift the shaft 2| to the left so as to bring the pinion 23 into engagement, while the solenoid 20 when energized, will shift the shaft 2| to the right, thus bringing the pinion 22 into engagement.

In order to rotate the shaft 2|, and always in the same direction, I provide improved step-bystep' mechanism comprising a ratchet wheel 25 and a pawl 26. By reference to Fig. 5, it will be seen that the pawl 26 has a hook on its end which engages the teeth of the ratchet wheel 25, and that the pawl is pivotally mounted at 21 upon an armature 28 which is itself pivotally mounted at 29 to a fixed support carried by posts 36. Rigid with the armature 28 is a second pawl 3|, and the pivoted pawl 26 is urged toward the ratchet wheel by means of a spring 32 extending between the two pawls.

Positioned beneath the armature 28 is an electromagnet 33 having pole pieces so designed that when energized they attract the armature 28, drawing it down from full line to dotted line position, as shown in Fig. 5. At each such actuation of the armature the pawl 26 pulls the ratchet wheel 25 around a distance equal to the space between two teeth, that is to say, as shown in Fig. 5, one-sixth of a revolution. At the end of the stroke of pawl 26, the pawl 3| has moved into the dotted line position and serves as a stop to limit the movement of the ratchet Wheel 25, thus assuring that it is moved accurately the proper distance, and no further.

Housed at the rear end of the display unit and supported on the rear plate 4 thereof are a pair of relays 34 and 35 (see Figs. 1 and 6). The relay 34 has an armature 36 pivoted at 38 and carrying a switch blade 48 adapted to engage fixed contacts 42 and 44. It will be noted that owing to the shape of the blade 40, when it is swung toward the contacts 42 and 44 it engages the contact 42 first and then the contact 44 later. This is essential to the operation of the mechanism, as will hereinafter more fully appear.

Similarly, the relay 35 has an armature 3'| pivoted at 39 and carrying a switch blade 4| which engages fixed contacts 43 and 45, the switch blade 4| being shaped so as to engage the'contact 43 first.

Referring now to Fig. "I, the manner in which the various parts heretofore described are electrically connected will be clear. The contact 42 is connected by wire 46 with one side of the solenoid |9 while the contact 43 is connected by wire 41 with one side of the solenoid 20, the other side of these two solenoids being connected by a common wire 49 to a wire 50 extending to one supply lead. The two contacts 44 and 45 are both connected by a wire 48 to one side of the magnet 33, the other side of which is connected to the wire 50.

In order to complete the circuit to the solenoids l9 and 20 and the magnet 33, current is supplied from the other supply lead over wire 5| to the armatures 36 and 31 of the relays 34 and 35, so that when the switch blades carried by these armatures engage the contacts 42 to 45 the various magnets and solenoids will be energized.

From an inspection of Fig. 7, in connection with Figs. 1 and 5, it will be seen that whenever the relay 34 is energized it will attract its armature, and the switch blade 40, during its initial movement will engage the contact 42. This will energize solenoid l9 thus pulling the shaft 2| so as to bring the pinion 23 into engagement with the gear 24. Then, during its subsequent movement, the switch blade 40 will engage contact 44, thereby energizing the power magnet 33 and causing the pawl and ratchet mechanism shown in Fig. 5 to make a stroke, thus rotating the shaft 2| and the reels 8 and 9 one step and moving the web a distance corresponding to one character.

Similarly, when the magnet 35 is energized, the switch blade 4| thereof will first engage the contact 43 thus energizing the solenoid 20, shifting the shaft 2| to the right and bringing the pinion 22 into engagement with the gear 24. By its further movement the switch blade 4| engages the contact 45 thus energizing the power magnet 33 and similarly causing the pawl and ratchet mechanism to make a stroke which moves the web a distance equal to the width of one character.

Thus, the reels are rotated in one direction or the other in accordance withwhich of the two relays 34 or 35 is energized.

As above stated, I propose to move the web from one character to the next at each stroke of the pawl and ratchet mechanism. However, it will be observed that as the web is wound upon the reel which is fixed to its shaft, the eifective diameter of this reel progressively increases. Thus, a given angular movement, at one stage of the operation, would not result in the same linear displacement of the web as it would at another stage. Therefore, to compensate for this varying effective diameter of the reel, and in order to insure that successive strokes of the pawl and ratchet mechanism result in bringing successive characters accurately into registry with the display opening, regardless of the position of the characters in the series, I progressively vary the spacing of the characters from one end of the series to the other. Thus, in the case of the alphabet, for example, the distance between A and B would be slightly different from the distance between Y" and Z, owing to the fact that when the web is suiiiciently wound upon the reel to display the last characters, the diameter of the reel has increased so' that the same angular movement produces a different linear displacement of the web. By this simple expedient of progressively increasing the spacing between the characters from one end of the series to the other, I am enabled to completely compensate for the variation in effective diameter of the reel, and to bring about the result that successive equal angular movements of the reel bring successive characters centrally into accurate registry with the display opening regardless of the position of the characters in the series.

In order to energize the relays 34 and 35, I provide a pair of circuit closers constituting part of the remote control device. In Fig. 7, these circuit closers are shown as comprising a central contact finger 54, connected with one side of the supply line by means of a wire 53, and a pair of contacts 55, 56, disposed one on each side of the contact finger 54, and connected with one side of the respective relays 35 and 34 by wires 51 and 58. The other side of these relays is, of course, connected by wire to the other supply lead. A switch 52 is provided for controlling the lamp I l, as shown.

As in my prior co-pending application, above identified, I propose to arrange a plurality of display units such as illustrated in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 in groups, the units being disposed in a number of horizontal rows so as to provide lines of reading matter. In Fig. 12, I have illustrated a group of four such units operatively connected with a corresponding group of four remote control devices.

In Figs. 8 to 11, I have shown how groups of these control devices may be arranged in bank formation comprising a plurality of horizontal rows corresponding with the horizontal rows of display units.

Referring more particularly to Figs. 8 and 9, it will be seen that each remote control device comprises the contact finger 24 and the pair of contacts 55 and 56 arranged one on each side of the finger 54, all of the contacts being supported on an insulating frame 54*. The free end of contact finger 54 is arranged to be engaged by the teeth 59 of a toothed wheel having secured thereto an indicator ring or rim 60 which bears the series of letters, numbers or other characters which it is desired to display. The teeth 59 of the control device are accessible through openings 63 in the front wall 64 of the casing in which the control devices are mounted, so that the control wheels may be turned in either direction by the operator by applying his finger to the exposed teeth. As the control wheel is rotated, it will be understood that the contact finger 54 is deflected from its central position and snaps from tooth to tooth. When the wheel is rotated in one direction the contact finger 54 is deflected into engagement with the contact 55, while when it is rotated in the reverse direction the contact finger 54 is caused to engage the contact 56. Thus, as each tooth 59 passes the contact finger 54, a current impulse is sent through either the relay 34 or the relay 35 in accordance with the direction of rotation of the control wheel. The letters or characters on the indicator ring 60 are arranged to be displayed one at a time through windows 65 in the wall 64 of the casing, as clearly shown in Fig. 9, and it will be understood that the spacing of the characters on the ring 6|] corresponds with the spacing of the teeth 59, that is to say, there is one character for each tooth.

Consequently, in rotating one of the control wheels through a sufficient angle to change the character appearing at the window 65 from A to E, four teeth are caused to snap past the contact finger 54, and the circuit to one of the relays is closed momentarily four times. This causes the pawl and ratchet mechanism, shown in Fig. 5, to turn the shaft 2| four steps, and, as above explained, the ratio of the gearing 22, 24,

II], II and I2 is such that this results in moving the display web 15 from A to E.

By reference to Fig. 11, it will be seen that I provide each of the wheels 60 with a stop pin 62 adapted to engage a fixed abutment 6| carried by the casing, so as to limit the rotation of the wheels to a single revolution in either direction. This is necessary in order to assure that the characters displayed at the indicator windows 65 will always agree with the characters displayed through the display opening 6, since the web is of definite length and can only travel a certain limited distance. It is, therefore, necessary to so construct the remote control device that it is impossible to continue turning it in any one direction beyond the end of the series of characters. By reference to Figs. and 11, also, it will be seen that the control wheels may be conveniently mounted in a plurality of rows or banks, the wheels of the diiferent banks being mounted on different shafts, 59 59*, etc.

Referringagain to Fig. 10, it will be seen that although there are three contact devices, 54, 55 and 56, for each unit, it is necessary to employ only two control wires extending from the remote control device to the display unit, namely, the wires 51 and 58. In addition to these, there are only the power supply wires and common return, which latter extend to all of the units of the system in parallel and may be wired on the back of the display board, as described in my prior copending application. Each switch 52 controls all of the lamps I! in one horizontal row of display units, there being one switch for each row.

From the foregoing, it will be clear that each relay 34, 35, when energized serves to first select the direction in which the web l5 wil1 be driven by means of the solenoids l9 and 20 and pinions 22 and 23, and then to turn the shaft 2| one step, thus moving the web a distance corresponding to one character. It will be further understood that the web may thus be driven step-bystep at any time in either direction desired, in accordance with whether the remote control wheel is turned by the operator in one direction or the other. Thus, for example, the operator may, by turning the control wheel in one direc tion, advance the web from the letter A to the letter R, and then, by turning the control wheel in the opposite direction he may cause the web to be driven reversely back (say to the letter O) Thus, it is possible to change the display device at will and directly from one character to any other character whatsoever, regardless of the relative position of the two characters in the series.

What I claim is:

1. An electrically operated changeable exhibitor unit comprising a relatively long narrow frame having a display opening at the front end thereof, reels mounted one behind the other in said frame, a flexible display element carried by said reels and adapted to pass in front of said display opening, a drive shaft and connected gearing for driving said reels, a pair of electromagnets disposed one near each end of said frame for shifting said drive shaft longitudinally for changing the direction in which it drives said reels, said drive shaft extending between said electromagnets, pawl and ratchet mechanism for causing rotation of said drive shaft, and electrically operated means located in said frame behind said reels for actuating said pawl and ratchet mechamsm.

2. An electrically operated changeable exhibitor comprising a relatively long narrow frame having a display opening at its front end, reels mounted in said frame, a flexible display element carried by said reels and positioned to pass in front of said display opening, a drive shaft disposed longitudinally of said frame, reversing gearing interposed between said shaft and reels for driving the latter in either direction, the direction of drive being determined by the longitudinal position of said shaft, means for shifting said shaft axially to select the direction of drive, and electromagnetic means located in said frame behind said reels for rotating said drive shaft and for controlling said shifting means.

3. A changeable exhibitor comprising a movable display element bearing a series of characters, a remote control device including an indicator element bearing a similar series of characters and movable in either direction, power means, movable in one direction only, for operating said display element, shiftable means whereby said power means may be caused to drive said display element in either direction, and means operated by the reversal of movement of said indicator element for both actuating said shiftable means, and bringing said power means into operation, said means including mechanism for insuring the actuation of said shiftable means in advance of bringing said power means into operation.

4. A changeable exhibitor comprising a movable display element bearing a series of characters, a remote control device including an indicator element bearing a similar series of characters and movable in either direction, electromagnetically driven means, movable in one direction only, for operating said display element, shiftable means whereby said electromagnetical- 5. A changeable exhibitor comprising a movable display element bearing a series of characters, a remote control device including an indicator element bearing a similar series of charactersand movable in either direction, a power shaft, 2. driving magnet for operating said shaft in one direction only, shiftable gearing whereby said power shaft may drive said display element in either direction, magnetic means for shifting said gearing, and means actuated by the re versal of movement of said indicator element for energizing both the magnetic gear shifting means and the driving magnet, said means including relay means insuring the energization of the gear shifting magnetic means prior to the energization of said driving magnet.

6. A changeable exhibitor comprising a movable display element, a remote control device therefor, a driving magnet for operating said display element, shiftable gearing whereby said driving magnet may drive said display element in either direction, a magnet for shifting said gear- 

